ADMIN: Possible Changes to the Main List Settings

[Amy Z]

arrowsmithbt wrote:

> As I understand it, ADMIN want an expanded come-on to catch the eye 
of potential 
> members and there is a possibility of some sort of omnibus 
publication - have I got 
> that right? 

No, I don't think so.  This thread isn't about book publication and 
I'm not sure who introduced that idea.  A_areader suggested it back 
in message 11, and Talisman has just talked about the copyright 
issues involved in publishing a book, but has anyone from the admin 
actually suggested such a thing?  Not that I recall.

I certainly would be stunned if the Admin want to catch the eye of 
potential members.  Yikes.  Low membership is NOT a problem around 
here.  Admin, can you speak to this?

Anyway.  The issue was about whether to make public the archives of a 
list that has been open to members only.  While it is so easy to join 
HPfGU that the difference may seem much of a muchness, there is an 
important distinction:  one cannot find information contained in 
members-only archives from an external Google search.  I, for one, 
would strongly object to something I had said in a conversation, even 
a conversation among thousands, being opened up to anyone who might 
Google "Amy Z" to see where I've been.

(And let's be serious--the vast majority of our members are not 
active, and heaven knows how many don't ever check the website nor 
even remember that they belong to a group called HPfGU, so the 
rhetoric of "you've already said this to a roomful of 11,000 people!" 
doesn't cut much ice.  Also, since I joined just before the begining 
of 2001 and posted most actively during that year, many of my 
comments were made to a group that was much, much smaller.  However, 
I don't think size is really the issue.  There is a difference 
between a community of HP fans [or those looking in on them to see 
what they're talking about, *cough*Abanes*cough*] and the whole world 
wide web.)

Tom also raised the question of the FAQs/Fantastic Posts (or perhaps 
someone else raised it and Tom commented on it).  It is true: that 
compilation takes quotes from a members-only site and puts it on a 
public site.  Even if the existence of the FAQs and the way they were 
to be structured was publicized very thoroughly on HPfGU (I know the 
former was and I'm pretty sure the latter was), that does raise a 
question in my mind about whether we should in fact have the 
Fantastic Posts be public.  After all, they could and probably do 
quote people who weren't around on HPfGU anymore when they were 
created, so that those people didn't have an opportunity to object.

OTOH, perhaps it has been clear in the admin files from the beginning 
that one's posts might be quoted in a more public forum--in which 
case all of this is moot.  If I posted to the list without paying 
sufficient attention to the possibility that I might one day be cited 
in a more public forum, then that is my responsibility.  

Amy Z